Saturday, August 9, 2014

Are you sure it wasn't supposed to be called something else that begins with "sh"?

Before I begin discussing the "spectacle" known as The Shard I will
address the mystifying marvel that is THE Stonehenge (and compare and contrast
the two). This mysterious place that was formed for many speculative reasons
still holds something magical/medicinal/miraculous depending on your own
beliefs, whereas The Shard has no such qualities whatsoever, or at least we
don’t know that yet.

I understand many of you students were bored with Stonehenge acknowledging it was all a “pile of old rocks” and wanted to get out of there as
quickly as possible to return to your air con coach, but did any of you stop to
ponder that maybe, just maybe the spirit of Stonehenge was VERY IMPORTANT to
other people?

During our trip to Stonehenge I noticed a woman holding an
umbrella standing completely still in front of a healing rock for several
minutes. The weather was extremely warm on this day and with her back to the
sun for who knows how long and her eyes always closed, I could tell she was up
to something personal or spiritual. Of course I wasn’t going to interrupt and
stop to ask this woman what the heck she was doing standing there like a
mannequin in the blistering sun; we probably didn’t even speak the same
language, but she certainly set an impression during my visit and all I kept
thinking as I listened to the audio tour was ‘Whatever she traveled all this
way to improve in her life, I really hope it comes true for her.’ An individual who stands
out like that amidst dozens of obnoxious people really deserves the extra well-wishes. However, I was ticked off
on her behalf for all the selfish loudmouths not honoring her practice or the mere atmosphere of this location for that matter. I bet bus-loads of people around the world would kill to see Stonehenge, just so they can live better!

Now for The Shard. Shangri-La? Okay, I can see the notion of creating that hotel inside The Shard, but it class-i-fies and separates society even further apart in doing so; limiting access to both spectacles combined. And
like Stonehenge, where the stones themselves are fenced off so no one can touch
or climb them, the “restrictions” are a commonality for both places; about the
only commonality, though. I mean, at The Shard you can’t even get past the elevator
lobby without proving you are a registered guest of the hotel. Fair enough for
those privileged-enough to afford the luxury pinnacle of architecture, but
really, it lacks its own essence, which Stonehenge already has and has had for eons. The following picture I took shows how small The Shard can look from a different perspective (can you even see it?), proving it still has insignificance to many people in this city.

Despite advertising its unique welcoming signature scent, and perhaps because
it’s still too arrogantly new, the faux-welcomes at the entrance of The Shard are enough to make anyone with real class turn away and say, "I'd rather stay elsewhere and get a good view of London from either St. Paul's Cathedral or The London Eye." Perhaps this will change in the next years.